STories/quotes
1a. The first quote is by a woman who eventually ended up hosting rent-parties although she had thought they were demeaning, she was kind of forced into this but seemed pretty okay with it once she got going. Most likely because she actually did become desperate to pay the bills and this proved effective.
1b. The second quote is of a normal working woman who noted the change in the customary traditions in the workplace because nobody had extra money to throw around or give out. She notices how it was universal, not just her who needed to cut corners. Not giving the foreman a gift would have been against the old way of things but that had totally changed.
1c. The third quotation was written by a man who was greatly enthused by this new change, just as many were after Roosevelt's inauguration in 1933. This was a public article as was probably written to influence others to be optimistic as well. However, this was written in 1933 right when peoples hopes were at their peak, Nevins may not have been quite as happy as he was here several years later when he was to realize things weren't going to get better overnight.
2a. Rent-parties were when someone would hire a band or musician to play in their room and they would host a party and pass around a hat to raise money in order to pay the rent. It was indeed a desperate kind of thing to do but in this day and age few could get by and be so concerned with appearing more dignified.
2b. A packing house is exactly what it sounds like, it is a house of packaging things, often food. It must have been an assembly-line-type configuration. A foreman is also what it seems to be, the man in charge of the workers the one who is very qualified in the job and regulates their work and lets them leave work at a certain time.
2c. During this time, people weren't being paid by the WPA to write articles, the WPA didn't even exist yet, this man just seems fortunate enough to have had a job during this time. This is probably due to the fact that the NY Times was such a big company and it still needed writers, and it absolutely needed them around election time if not any other.
3. In the second quote, Novak mentions how she had to let men slap her butt to keep her job although she despised this. She must have not had many options for work at that point. This collection of quotations shows how dramatically times had changes for the worse, as well as how quickly people were overjoyed by the hope Roosevelt brought. After the stock market collapsed, things only seemed to get worse and worse and worse, and once you thought it couldn't possibly get even more worse, it would. The first two quotes must have been about pretty early on in the depression because things didn't seem all that bad compared to other stories of peoples lives, but this shows how every step down the way, people were repeatedly surprised how their very culture was adapting. If you go to the page on Literature I wrote more about how this newfound hope didn't last too long as people still struggled with their day-to-day lives. Even with the aid of these Federal programs like the WPA and others like soup kitchens and new banking regulations for greater security and secure funds, people were struggling to feed their families for years after.
1b. The second quote is of a normal working woman who noted the change in the customary traditions in the workplace because nobody had extra money to throw around or give out. She notices how it was universal, not just her who needed to cut corners. Not giving the foreman a gift would have been against the old way of things but that had totally changed.
1c. The third quotation was written by a man who was greatly enthused by this new change, just as many were after Roosevelt's inauguration in 1933. This was a public article as was probably written to influence others to be optimistic as well. However, this was written in 1933 right when peoples hopes were at their peak, Nevins may not have been quite as happy as he was here several years later when he was to realize things weren't going to get better overnight.
2a. Rent-parties were when someone would hire a band or musician to play in their room and they would host a party and pass around a hat to raise money in order to pay the rent. It was indeed a desperate kind of thing to do but in this day and age few could get by and be so concerned with appearing more dignified.
2b. A packing house is exactly what it sounds like, it is a house of packaging things, often food. It must have been an assembly-line-type configuration. A foreman is also what it seems to be, the man in charge of the workers the one who is very qualified in the job and regulates their work and lets them leave work at a certain time.
2c. During this time, people weren't being paid by the WPA to write articles, the WPA didn't even exist yet, this man just seems fortunate enough to have had a job during this time. This is probably due to the fact that the NY Times was such a big company and it still needed writers, and it absolutely needed them around election time if not any other.
3. In the second quote, Novak mentions how she had to let men slap her butt to keep her job although she despised this. She must have not had many options for work at that point. This collection of quotations shows how dramatically times had changes for the worse, as well as how quickly people were overjoyed by the hope Roosevelt brought. After the stock market collapsed, things only seemed to get worse and worse and worse, and once you thought it couldn't possibly get even more worse, it would. The first two quotes must have been about pretty early on in the depression because things didn't seem all that bad compared to other stories of peoples lives, but this shows how every step down the way, people were repeatedly surprised how their very culture was adapting. If you go to the page on Literature I wrote more about how this newfound hope didn't last too long as people still struggled with their day-to-day lives. Even with the aid of these Federal programs like the WPA and others like soup kitchens and new banking regulations for greater security and secure funds, people were struggling to feed their families for years after.
Bernice, Rent Party Hostess
"When I first came to New York from Bermuda I thought rent-parties were disgraceful. I couldn't understand how any self-respecting person could bear them, but when my husband, who was a pullman porter, ran off and left me with a sixty-dollar-a-month apartment on my hands and no job, I soon learned, like everyone else, to rent my rooms out an' throw these Saturday get togethers... I had two roomers, a colored boy and white girl name Leroy and Hazel, who first gave me the idea. They offered to run the parties for me if we'd split fifty-fifty. I had nothing to lose, so that's how we started."
Source: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/bernice.html
Source: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/bernice.html
Anna Novak, Packing House Worker
"I've had eight years of the yards. It's a lot different now, with the union and all. We used to have to buy the foremen presents, you know. On all the holidays, Xmas, Easter, Holy Week, Good Friday, you'd see the men coming to work with hip pockets bulging and take the foremen off in corners, handing over their half pints...Your job wasn't worth much if you didn't observe the holiday "customs." The women had to bring 'em bottles, just the same as the men. You could get along swell if you let the boss slap you on the behind...I'd rather work any place but in the stockyards just for that reason alone."
Source: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/anna.html
Source: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/anna.html
Nevins, Allan
Viewpoint taken on Dec 31st 1933 in the NY Times Magazine:
“It is in times like this that our democratic institutions are at their best... There is no reason to feel anything but optimism when we see Congress and President cooperating as they did last spring.”
Source:
Dudley, William. The Great Depression: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven, 1994. N. pag. Print.
“It is in times like this that our democratic institutions are at their best... There is no reason to feel anything but optimism when we see Congress and President cooperating as they did last spring.”
Source:
Dudley, William. The Great Depression: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven, 1994. N. pag. Print.